The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-08-25

south with acapacity Of {, 5000 tons -,
day For 100000 tons per annr~
so that where we increased 4so'
900 tons IN seven years we will no1
increase 1,000,oOeto tons in one vAa o~
Mr.. Grady gave other figures 81
length, showing the enormous grovtS
of industrial movements in the so,4I
He then praised the work of soutborn
farmer, who, out of nothing twent-
years ago but bare lands and desola+o5
fields had produced last year a cron ~
S7l5, 900, 900. 90 -
Indeed" he said. II think A.
farmer. deserves more credit than biz
friends in the city. I. shall ALWAYS
maintain that there is no record of5o
roism to surpass the rebuilding Of tbo
south by her sons returning from war
This work glorious everywhere was
easier in the cit" than in the countrv
There amid the clamor Of the mnlti.
tude, quickenedf by the sense Of com.
radeship hearing The heart beat Of >
friendfon evefyls side, led by example
and2stdng by criticism the work vas
easy forinspiration was constant. Bnt
have you thought Of the farmer that
had returned to the solitude of his dis.
poiled home? Have you thought Of
himsas he wandered through his emntv
barns, his desolated fields, his stock,
labor and implements gone, his neigh.
sbors slain, and even the son who was
to be the staff of age, or the father
who was to be the guide Of youth and
the brother at ono comrade and kins.
man resting beneath the same far off
sky, happier in his tranquil grave than
he who was left in this sad perplexity.
Think of him as he gathers together
the fragments of his wreck and goes
afield, urging with kindly hand his
borrowed mule, planting cotton at
twenty-five cents and marketing it at
fifteen, paying sixty per cent usury on
all he buys, and buying everything on
credit, his crop mortgaged before it is
planted his children in want, his neigh.
borhood in chaos, without church or
school, working under new conditions
without guidance, retrieving each er-
ror by a wasted year, and struggling
to every truth through costly exper,
fence, working all day long adown.the
furrow, and at night almost hopeless,
going back to his dismantled house
broken and cherries, where his wife
thank God-cheerful even in her sor-
row, leads him to forget his troubles
as she brings him to listen to the chirp,
ing of the cricket beneath their hearth.
stone, while she ministers with infinite
grace to his loving heart. I love to
think of him, for he is my countryman,
as he walked those terrible days, day
after day, behind his pillow, hearing no
voice save the approval of his con,
science, and having no friend near him
save Nature that smiles back at his
earnest touch and God that sends him
the message of good cheer though the
passing breeze and whispering leaves"
Closing he said:
II thank God over and again for
the time and place of my birth-that
[ came into manhood when the south,
merging from unspeakable sorrow,
Frustrated and impoverished, called
her sons to her side, and that l was
born Of her bosom and sworn to her
service. Had [ been an alien her sor.
rows would have touched me, and |
should have sought her banner, but
born of her soil and holding heirshlp
to her sorrow l have never had an
aspiration that would not hallow hers:
Have you thought, my countrymen, OF
the glorious work at our hands, and
the glorious oasis in which we were
born? We stand for the integrity OF
a splendid civilization, from the spirit
Of which we cannot in honor or reVer'
ence depart but which we must carry
unstained into new conditions. 1t is
ours to show, that a land that pros,
pered with slaves shall prosper YET
more with freedom, that a people de-
feated in war shall triumph in peace
and that set apart for a century they
shall enter the lists in poverty anu
emerge in prosperity-holding sacrea
every honorable tradition yet turning
their faces steadfast and, dauntless 70
the future. How are we keeping TINS
trust ?. There are those who say tna'
our farmers are losing ground and DC.
ing driven backward from their farms
as our fathers were driven backward